1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a figure moving method for moving a figure displayed on a computer display. In particular, it relates to a figure moving method suitable for DNA microarray image analysis.
2. Background Art
DNA microarrays (to be hereafter referred to as “microarrays”) are used for the analysis of gene expressions in tissue or cells. In a microarray, DNA (probes) is bound to a glass or silicon substrate at high densities, and these probes are hybridized with marker samples prepared from RNA extracted from tissue or cells. The intensity of a signal from this hybridization is measured to obtain expression data concerning individual genes.
The development of microarrays has enabled the analysis of expression information concerning thousands to tens of thousands of genes at once in an exhaustive manner, thereby allowing for a simultaneous measurement of gene expression information in all of the regions of the genome.
During a microarray analysis, an image in which many circular, so-called spots are arranged vertically and horizontally is obtained. Such spots sometimes number in the tens of thousands. In the gene expression analysis using a microarray, the most troublesome work involves the position detection operation for identifying the position of the spots in a microarray image. A variety of methods have been devised for this purpose.
During the spot position detection operation, a template comprising many circular windows arranged vertically and horizontally is used. The circular windows of the template are aligned with the circular spots in the microarray image. After the windows of the template are aligned with all of the spots in the microarray image, the spot image in each window is analyzed. For example, a sum value, an average value, and a central value among the luminance values obtained from a group of pixels in each spot image are calculated as expression values.
In general, the circular windows in a template are divided into a plurality of blocks. During the aligning operation for aligning the circular windows of the template with the spots, the overall position of the template and the position of each block are adjusted either manually or automatically.
As a means of adjusting the position of blocks in the prior art, a method is known whereby numerical values are entered using a keyboard in a numerical-value input area on the picture intended for the entry of block interval.
Another method is disclosed in JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-212369 A (1996), whereby, after a given block on the picture is moved using a pointing device, such as a mouse, other blocks are moved such that all of the blocks in the picture become arranged at equal intervals with respect to one another.
(Patent Document 1)
JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-212369 A (1996)